County Improving children’s services is priority
GLOUCESTERSHIRE County Council leader Mark Hawthorne says improving the county’s children’s services will be the first priority of his administration.
The Conservatives retained control of the council in the recent elections and now hold 28 of the 53 seats.
And Mr Hawthorne says the first challenges to tackle are the problems facing the local authority’s children’s services, which were deemed inadequate by Ofsted in 2017.
An inspection in October last year said children’s services were showing “continued weaknesses in some areas”.
But inspectors acknowledged there has been a “change of tempo” since then, partly due to earlier action taken by leaders, which is now “coming to fruition”.
They also praised the department’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, which they see as “positive, proactive and well managed”.
Mr Hawthorne says they will focus on making improvements stick.
“Our first priority will be the reinspection of children services, which is due in the next four to six months,” he said.
“Our focus very much is that we have everything lined up and ready and we are delivering those improvements and making them stick.
“That is going to be a huge job for us. It’s going to focus our minds over the next six months. We’ve got to get it done.
“It took some while to get the right team in place but we now have Chris Spencer in now and his team are doing a fantastic job.
“It’s about stabilising the workforce. It has been difficult but we are now in a situation where the number of temporary staff is falling and the number of permanent staff is rising.”
Mr Hawthorne said his administration will also focus on delivering road improvements and supporting market towns as the country reopens after the coronavirus pandemic.
Our focus very much is that we have everything lined up and ready and we are delivering those improvements and making them stick.
Mark Hawthorne
Another priority will be to secure major infrastructure projects across the county such as improvements to the A417, M5 and a new railway station.
“The second priority is to look at delivering on our manifesto commitments,” he said.
“We will look at our road resurfacing programme.
“Make sure our plans are fit for purpose and we are getting the investment in the right places.
“We want to be supporting market towns to reopen after Covid. We have a £1 million pot put aside and we really want to make sure we get that funding out there and support them.
“Then off the back of that it’s the big stuff like landing the major infrastructure projects that are genuinely going to make a difference for Gloucestershire.
“Whether that’s the A417 which is just about to go through with the development control order process.
“Whether it’s junction 9 and 10 of the motorway, getting those landed and sorted.
“Whether it’s looking at the Western Gateway and looking at rail infrastructure with a new station for the county and improved services.
“Those are the big-ticket items we’ve got to make sure we hit the ground running.”